A Few Details on the Brazillian Tucker

[Tuckerfan1053]

A friend found this website, which in addition to having a lovely image of the Carioca, also has some info on the Tucker that's in Brazil. Translated from the Portuguese it says

Of the 51 model '48 sedans that Preston Tucker's factory produced in Chicago, one of them had a more afflicted trajectory and ended up in Brazil. It was acquired by the business of Jamie Gatamianis in December of 1948, who substituted the original moter, a Franklin 335, also used to move helicopters, for another one. At that time, he paid 5000 dollars for the car (equivilant to 36,000 dollars today), much more that the cost of a Cadillac Fleetwood, one of the icons of that time. Fourteen years later, Gatamianis sold the automobile to Roberto Lee, who wanted to make it one of the main attractions of his Paulista ["São-Paulo-ian"] Museum of Mechanical Antiquities, in Caçapava, in the São Paulo interior. He intended to restore the Tucker, but he didn't live long enough to do it. He died in the '70s and, since then, a legal dispute among his heirs closed the museum. Until the case is closed, the major attraction of the many things left by Lee will not be able to be appreciated by car lovers.